Meet Our New Board Members! — Brooklyn Arts Council

Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) is thrilled to announce the appointment of five new board members: Cey Adams, Karen Auster, Kristina Newman-Scott, Christine Osuji, and Tobie S. Stein, Ph.D.

As we continue to navigate the overlapping crises impacting our borough spurred by COVID-19, the ongoing reckoning with structural racism, and financial precarity that especially effects artists, BAC’s new board members will add tremendous wisdom and leadership toward shaping the organization’s future. As a group, these five new board members represent an impressive array of expertise spanning branding and PR, non-profit administration, academia, human resources, and living and working as a Brooklyn artist. These individuals will be integral to the organization’s strategic planning process as we enter a new reality such that BAC can continue to support our borough’s vibrant arts community.

This year, BAC launched Creative Equations, a new social justice investment strategy and funding stream for artists that diversifies our grantmaking practice and will disperse more than $600,000 over the next two years as well as provide for larger grant award amounts. This deepened commitment to art-based social justice is driven by our values around justice, equity, and sustainability. Additionally, BAC continues to provide hundreds of grants to artists across the borough through our Community Arts Grants, distributed in partnership with the City and State. In 2021, BAC awarded $706,000 through these grants. BAC also supports artists and the community through our professional development platform, Brooklyn Innovation Institute; arts in education programs; and cultural heritage offerings. By providing access to funding and community-building opportunities, BAC connects artists to one another to create a healthy, dynamic, and vitally important cultural environment. This interconnectedness ignites a range of cultural activities in every Brooklyn neighborhood, the City’s most populous borough and the center of its cultural life.

“We are delighted to announce the addition of Cey Adams, Karen Auster, Kristina Newman-Scott, Christine Osuji, and Tobie Stein to our board. These accomplished leaders will undoubtedly play a crucial role in helping shape the future of our organization as we continue on our mission of empowering artists throughout Brooklyn.”
- Toni Williams, Board Chair of Brooklyn Arts Council

Cey Adams

Cey Adams, a New York City native, emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside fellow artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. He appeared in the historic 1982 PBS documentary Style Wars, which tracks subway graffiti in New York. Adams served as Creative Director for Hip-Hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Recordings, where he co-founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm, creating visual identities, album covers, logos, and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Maroon 5, and Jay-Z.

He exhibits, lectures, and teaches art workshops at institutions including: The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of the City of New York, New York University, Walker Art Center, MoCA Los Angeles, HV MoCA, Pratt Institute, Stanford University, Howard University, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, High Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music, among others. He co-authored DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop, published by Harper-Collins; and designed Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label, published by Rizzoli. Adams draws inspiration from 60’s pop art, sign painting, vintage comics, and popular culture. His work focuses on themes including pop culture, brand identity, and cultural and community issues.

Karen Auster

As the President and Founder of Auster Agency, a DUMBO-based brand + experience company, Karen Auster has been at the forefront of creating dynamic, placemaking experiences throughout New York City. For over 25 years, she has been stewarding the development and re-invention of premier community and urban planning projects, while serving as a trusted advisor on the board of numerous start-ups, non-profit, and government organizations. Auster built her businesses' guiding principle "architecting experiences" - a vision of moving ideas and designs to create unforgettable exchanges and authentic connections between people, places, and brands. Notable projects include Brooklyn Bridge Park, Shops at Columbus Circle, Roosevelt Island, Game On! for the Downtown Alliance, NY Building Congress, Bronx Terminal Market, Hudson Yards, and Domino Park.

Auster believes that great ideas have the power to transform urban environments. She passionately seeks mission-driven projects that better the economic and social well-being of communities. She believes local collaboration and strategic partnerships are critical to the success of every initiative - a close alliance between government, non-profits, small businesses, artists, makers, and grassroots organizations. Building public programming at the intersection of community, culture and commerce has fueled her reputation as a forceful and disruptive leader in New York City for decades.

Kristina Newman-Scott

Kristina Newman-Scott is an award-winning, nationally recognized arts and cultural leader. She most recently served as President of BRIC, a leading arts and media institution anchored in Downtown Brooklyn whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action. She was the first immigrant and first woman of color to serve as BRIC’s President and one of the very few women of color to lead a major New York cultural institution.

Newman-Scott's awards and recognitions include being named one of the City and State New York’s, 2021 Telecommunications Power 50 (individuals shaping New York’s digital future), an Observer’s NYC 2020 Arts Power 50, a National Arts Strategies Creative Community Fellow, A Hive Global Leadership Selectee, and a Next City Urban Vanguard. In June 2018, Americans for the Arts presented Kristina with the Selina Roberts Ottum Award, which recognizes an individual working in arts management who exemplifies extraordinary leadership qualities. Newman-Scott was appointed to the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission in 2020 and currently serves on the Boards of National Arts Strategies, and New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, in addition to Brooklyn Arts Council.

Christine Osuji

Christine Osuji is General Manager at Consolidated Edison of New York, Inc. In this role, she leads and sets strategic direction for the company’s call centers, back-office billing of customer accounts, walk-in-centers for customers to meet face-to-face with staff, social media inquiries and the personal services department that handles long-term billing. Her team includes over 700 union and management employees. During her 20-year tenure with Con Ed, Osuji has held positions of increasing responsibility in Human Resources, Equal Employment Opportunity, Employee and Labor Relations, Leadership and Career Development and Customer Operations.

Prior to joining Con Edison of New York, Osuji was a director of Human Resources for a nonprofit organization located in the South Bronx. Osuji is also a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (2018).

Tobie S. Stein, Ph.D

Tobie Stein, Ph.D. is a two-time Fulbright Specialist (Israel and Taiwan), a member of the Diversity Scholars Network at the National Center for Institutional Diversity, University of Michigan, and a member of the American Sociological Association. She is a EDIA consultant and guest blogger for Walker International Communications Group and a guest panelist for the multicultural television program Brooklyn Savvy.

She is the author of five books, including Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Performing Arts Workforce (Routledge, 2020) and Leadership in the Performing Arts (Allworth Press, 2016), translated in Mandarin (2019). She was named a 2020 Champion of the Arts by Donna Walker-Kuhne. Her podcasts and virtual appearances, focusing on racial justice in the nonprofit workforce and leadership training have appeared on the Art Movez podcast, New Books Network podcast, Brooklyn Savvy, the International Contemporary Ensemble’s 2020 Ensemble Evolution virtual conference, Circus Talk, New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)'s “White Fragility” virtual panel discussion, Phoenix Business RadioX program, "Black Arts Funding Matters," and the Foundation Center Philanthropy Chat Website.

Stein has lectured on leadership and racial justice at Colombia University, New York University, the University of Michigan, the University of Southern California, the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her international work in performing arts and nonprofit management has been recognized in China, France, Israel, Mexico, and Taiwan. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology, focusing on career and workforce development from The CUNY Graduate Center.